Torn Paper
by BlackStar42Roses
Summary: Seven years. It had been seven years since Yamamoto died, and Hibari had forgotten nothing.


Torn Paper KHR Oneshot

Normal: present time  
><em>Normal:<em> the past

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Any similarities in events or characters are entirely coincidental.

Enjoy!

-line break-

Takeshi Yamamoto.

It was a name still foreign to him after seven years. Maybe it was because he hadn't thought about him for such a long time. Maybe it was because he had refused to think about him at all.

Or maybe it was because he still wouldn't accept it.

Hibari raised the steaming cup of green tea to his lips and blew softly across the surface of the hot drink. It was a grey morning without much sun and an unnatural mist hanging low during the month of April. This wasn't normal weather. The temperature ought to be around sixteen degrees today. It felt more like five.

Hibari put the cup back down, head hurting. Of all things today, he had to wake up with a headache. He needed to head back down to the airport today after a meeting with the omnivore boss and the rest of the noisy group because of some issue in Japan regarding the Vongola's territory. Not that the tenth needed _Hibari _of all people to go and clear up that matter; Hibari just simply wanted out of Italy at the moment. He hated Italian weather. Especially monsoon season.

He dressed, choosing a different jacket then the one he normally wears because of the stupid forecast and the dreary atmosphere. He found his tie and bunched it up in a mess around his neck before tearing it off again and deciding that black wasn't his colour today. Purple wasn't it either. Nor green. Or the one with penguins and polar bears that Dino got for him as a joke. Why on earth did he still have that _thing_?

Hibari reached for his dresser once more, and before he caught on, he'd ripped the whole drawer out in agitation and turned the damn thing upside down. Shirts, ties, and an odd sock fell out all over the floor. Hibari glared and dropped the wooden box on the floor with that _thud_. What was wrong with him today? He pushed the mess around with his foot, pondering whether or not he should burn all his stuff for the hell of it when a deep blue tie appeared in sight from under a turtleneck sweater.

_Hibari scowled as he held it up. "Herbivore. What on earth is this."_

_Yamamoto laughed, snatching it from Hibari's hands and holding it up. "It's practical, isn't it? I know you don't like chocolates and getting you another shirt would be pointless anyway, since your wardrobe consists of only white shirts, but I know that you needed one of these for your graduation next week! You can think of me when you wear this on Tuesday!"_

_Hibari's eye twitched as he poked his foot at the other sitting across from him on the sofa in the Prefect's Room, causing Yamamoto to slip off and fall with a yelp into the torn wrapping paper and thin cardboard box discarded on the floor._

"_You got me something useless. I don't know how to use it."_

"_Hm?" Takeshi asked, confused. "What don't you know how to use? It's a tie, Hibari."_

_Hibari flushed and looked away. "I don't know how to tie a tie, baka." He mumbled under his breath. Yamamoto's eyes widened slightly in surprise. And then he laughed, much to Hibari's displeasure, but proceeded to sit up, wind to the blue tie around Hibari's neck and patiently teach the raven how to properly knot the garment._

Hibari blinked and continued to look down at the simple piece of light silk material lying on the floor. He didn't know he still had that tie. Between moving his things in and out of Italy and Japan and travelling in and out of Italy and Japan for so many years, he'd lost track of many things. Including this little gift he'd received when he was graduating from Namimori nine years ago.

From him.

Hibari's mind shut down on itself as he thoughtlessly picked up the tie and wound it around his neck once again, fingers feeling empty as he tied the knot without the once familiar callused fingertips by his own.

He was late when he arrived at HQ. Gokudera had called him seven times on his phone and sent another dozen text messages to the Cloud Guardian, all of which were ignored and eventually unanswered forever, since Hibari grew irritated at the constant buzzing of the mobile in his jacket pocket and had chucked his phone out the window as he was driving. He pulled up to the front of the mansion, getting out of his car and slamming the door loudly so that the bodyguards would hear him coming.

He walked up the steps and paused at the front of the estate, reaching into his back pocket for his keys.

"_Maa, maa, Hibari! The food was great, wasn't it? I haven't had Japanese food in a long time; Italian food is tasty, but I do miss traditional dishes, don't you?"_

"_What nonsense are you talking about? It was only food." _

_Yamamoto laughed, slinging an arm around Hibari's thin shoulders. It had been a few years after they'd both left high school. Yamamoto was currently working his way through college with an athletic scholarship; Hibari was in University, drifting in and out of lectures and studying various languages, including Italian, something that nobody but Yamamoto happened to know._

"_Food it is, but doesn't it remind you of home? And home is great, isn't it?"_

"_You drank too much, baka." Hibari snapped. Yamamoto laughed again, pulling out his keys and inserting them into the keyhole of his apartment. Hibari looked down at his boyfriend's hand and blinked a little._

_Dangling from his keys was a small swallow and a dog charm, a gift Hibari had shoved into the surprised baseball player's hand a week after the he'd happily told Hibari of his acceptance letter for college. _

"_I keep it close, you know." Hibari jerked his head up, looking up at the taller man. Yamamoto had a small smile on his face, eyes twinkling. "It's the first present you gave me, after all. It means a lot to me."_

_Hibari had to look down in turn to hide his own little smile._

The swallow and the dog clinked against each other on Hibari's overcrowded keys as he searched through them for the silver key to the door of the Vongola mansion. He was about to turn it when the door was pulled back harshly and he found himself face to face with the adult Reborn. The hitman didn't look surprised. He raised an eyebrow and gestured at the clutter in Hibari's hand.

"Still?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Hibari said shortly as he strolled past he fedora-wearing man and headed for the stairs in the center of the grand landing. Reborn sighed quietly and closed the door after the Cloud Guardian. Hibari was damn stubborn at times. Less than half of the keys on his keyring were actually his; for his apartment, his car, his motorcycle, and _maybe_ a second house in Japan. Yet there continued to be excess trinkets hanging from the silver ring. Everybody had seen the state of Hibari's keychain, yet none of them said anything. Especially when they'd seen the key to a gym locked that had once been a certain baseball lover's on Hibari's clutter.

Upstairs, the meeting was well underway when Hibari nudged the door open lazily and walked in. Five of the Vongola members were already seated at the table. Gokudera stood up immediately, pointing an accusing finger at him.

"Bastard! Where have you been!"

"You are too noisy, herbivore. Quiet down."

Gokudera snarled. "I called you about eight times and sent you twelve text messages! Why the hell didn't you answer! This meeting is important."

"You called seven times." Hibari said shortly, taking his seat. "And texted me thirteen times, not twelve. I didn't answer because my phone fell out of my car."

Gokudera's eye twitched. "My ass," he growled. "I bet you're so cut off from human interaction you can't even tell what the damned day is!"

And suddenly, Hibari was flying across the table at Gokudera, grabbing the front of his shirt and sending them sprawling on the smooth oak table. Lambo yelped as the neatly stacked papers went flying in every direction. Chrome jumped up from her seat, grabbing hopelessly at the mess.

"Hey!" Ryohei yelled, his deep voice booming across the meeting room. "Stop it right now to the extreme guys!"

Hibari jerked his hands back almost as quickly as he'd grabbed Gokudera, stepping back and smoothing his tie down. Gokudera sat up, his eyes burning with loathing at the raven, who disregarded the other's expression and reached for the envelope holding the meeting's information sitting in front of Tsuna. He tore it open and scanned the content before turning to the brunette seated in his chair, looking like somebody ripped out one of his lungs or something.

"Do you have another copy of this, omnivore?"

Tsuna nodded. "Yes, I do, Hibari-san. Why—?"

"I'm leaving." Hibari cut in shortly, shoving the papers back into the yellow envelope. "I have a flight back to Japan."

"Now?" Tsuna asked, distressed. Hibari turned and raised an eyebrow.

"You wanted me to take care of the herbivores in your territory there, didn't you? Stop being indecisive. You're capable of more than that, Sawada."

Tsuna closed his mouth, staring up at Hibari. The former prefect didn't know why he looked so upset still. Hibari turned on his heel and headed back out of the room. At the doorway, he paused for a moment and turned around, looking right at Gokudera.

"Today's the twenty-fourth, herbivore. April twenty-fourth."

Gokudera looked up, stunned. Ryohei looked stricken. Tsuna stood up sharply, saying, "Hibari, wait—" but Hibari was already gone. He heard the muffled sound of Chrome sniffling as the door slid shut behind him.

"_Happy birthday Yamamoto~ Happy birthday to you!"_

_The guardians laughed and threw confetti and streamers everywhere as the baseball lover blew out his candles on his cake, beaming at his friends._

"_You're getting old, baseball idiot!"_

"_Nee, Yamamoto-kun, here's your presents!"_

"_You're twenty now! Finally a real man, extreme!"_

"_Thank you guys," Yamamoto said, laughing happily. "Man, I wish my birthday was every day. You guys are the best! I love celebrating with you all!"_

Hibari shook his head, the sounds echoing oddly in his ear as he walked back downstairs. He wished those herbivores wouldn't act like the world was ending, because it wasn't. The world ought to have ended that day, but it didn't. And Hibari was still alive. Still breathing. Still moving on. Even when one of the seven seats in the meeting room would never be occupied again.

He drove to the airport, parked his car, unloaded his trunk and tugged his suitcase along behind him as he walked through crowds of people bunched together in the giant building. He was almost four hours early for his flight. He didn't want to stay in the meeting. He didn't want to go anywhere. Not even Japan. So where did he want to go?

"_Hey, Hibari?"_

"_What is it now, idiot?"_

"_I want to go with you."_

"_What? Where?"_

"_I don't know. Anywhere. So long as you're with me."_

"_You're talking nonsense again, Yamamoto Takeshi. I demand you stop."_

"_Nah. Promise you'll bring me wherever you go, okay? I love you."_

Hibari turned the sheet of paper over, sipping his tea in his seat at one of the café's inside of the airport. His head was hurting again. It was always hurting nowadays. Sometimes, his chest would hurt too. Around the heart area.

"_Hibari, I'm so sorry, I'm so, so, sorry—"_

"_Shut up."_

"_Please, listen to us, he—"_

"_I said shut up!"_

"_Hibari," Tsuna had half sobbed, clenching his hands into fists, "Listen!"_

_Hibari stopped, staring at the child boss who wasn't really a child boss anymore. The teen's eyes was full of tears, but there was a steely glint in the hazel orbs. They were haunted with images that could never be washed away, but the look was steady. He stopped moving and listened._

_Tsuna hiccupped a little, but his voice remained somewhat calm. "Hibari, he's not alive anymore. There was an extreme amount of damage to his head. His body will live, but not his mind. He's brain dead. He won't wake up ever again. Please, Hibari, I don't want to burden you with this choice, but he—Yamamoto—he…he would have wanted you to choose."_

"_Don't." Hibari said, his voice cracking. "Don't. Don't you dare say that, Sawada, don't say what you think he would have wanted and what he wouldn't have and whatever he would have said but can't say now because he's lying there like a fucking puppet with its strings cut. His body isn't living. Is he outside in the baseball field? Is he hitting a home run? Is he in the dojo, sparring with me? Is he? The dead don't make choices, Sawada! The living do!"_

"_Exactly." Tsuna whispered. "You're alive, Hibari. Please. Please. We can't do it."_

"_Herbivores." Hibari snarled, tears running down his face. "Fucking herbivores!"_

_He stormed from the room, down the hallway, past his fellow guardians seated on the plastic chairs outside the hospital room. He ignored Chrome's sniffling, Lambo's whimpers like a small child, Gokudera's yell and Ryohei's words. "Hibari, what are you—?"_

_The doctors were waiting inside. The machines were humming. Yamamoto was lying of the bed, tubes sticking everywhere in his body and the smell of disinfect burning Hibari's nose and everything was so wrong, so disturbing, so completely surreal._

"_Cut it." His own voice was reduced to a hoarse rasp. "Cut it. Stop tethering him to this pathetic world and cut that damned machine from him."_

_April twenty-fourth was Yamamoto's twenty-first birthday. _

_Hibari killed Yamamoto on the same day. He didn't stop crying. He couldn't._

Hibari looked up. The screams around him were reaching ear-ringing levels, but he wasn't really hearing them. He stared right into the eyes of the Mafioso standing above him with a gun at his forehead and quietly sipped his tea.

"Feeling lucky, punk?" the man growled, his face marred by the brutality of Hibari's blows on him from their battle years ago.

"Not dead yet, herbivore?" Hibari asked, tilting his head.

"You little—"

Whatever he was, Hibari didn't find out. The man roared as he fell, crushed by Roll's giant needle balls exploding from behind. Hibari stood up, folding up the envelope and slipping it into his jacket. "Come on out." He called into the crowd. "Cowards!"

They did come out. Gunshots rang in the air and the glass dome above them shattered from the bullets. But Hibari crushed destroyed them without mercy. His heart was stone now. It may have melted open for the man he loved years ago, but it had frozen over again. And this time, he doubted he would ever let it thaw. The screams and gunshots mingled together like a symphony. A song of death. And the dead don't come back.

Bang.

Hibari staggered.

There was blood on his tie. His blue tie. His chest was warm. In the heart area.

Roll let out a tiny cry that tugged at Hibari's conscience. He reached for the little creature, taking dizzy steps forwards before crumbling to a heap on the floor. His breathing was raspy. The hedgehog nudged Hibari's cheek, wailing. Hibari wanted to reach up and pet the little guy, but his arms were too heavy. A splatter of rain hit his nose. Confused, Hibari squinted up.

Rain. Rain was pouring through the broken glass dome destroyed by the gunfire. It was raining on him.

"You idiot," whispered Hibari. "Why are you here?"

The rain wasn't cold. It warmed the Cloud Guardian's dying heart the same way it did once upon a time. April twenty-fourth had been Yamamoto's twenty-first birthday, the day he died. April twenty-fourth was eleven days from May fifth, Hibari's twenty-eighth birthday. Hibari hadn't stopped crying since that day. Even when there were no tears on his face, he had still been crying.

For seven years.

But strangely enough, he wasn't crying now.

"_Well? What do you say, Hibari? Stay with me tonight?"_

"_You're an idiot, Takeshi. I'm not staying with you tonight."_

"_Ehh? Why, Kyoya?"_

"_Baka. If I am to stay with you, I'll stay with you for one. And when I say one, I mean the one of this lifetime."_

"_Kyoya?"_

"_Hm?"_

"_I love you."_

"_Hn. Idiot, I do too."_

End

-line break-

If you know where Hibari's fifth last line comes from, I'll make you a cake.

Reviews are much appreciated! I'm sorry for writing such a tragic tale though, don't hate me ^^" Thanks for reading!

-BlackStar 


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